Chair seat construction



June 30, 1 4 o. c. HERSHBERGER ETAL 3,139,303

CHAIR SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 15, 1963 INVENTORS OLIN c. HERSHBE'RGER DOLORE B. MORIN ROGER E. LANGLOIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,139,308 CHAIR SEAT CONSTRUCTION Olin C. Hershbergen Dolore B. Morin, and Roger E. Langlois, Thompson, Conn., assignors. to 0. D. Bending and Equipment Corp., North Grosvenordale, Conn., a

corporation of Connecticut Filed Aug. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 302,315

4 Claims. (Cl. 297-461) This invention resides in the provision of a new and improved construction for the manufacture of chair seats and the like, and the principal object of the invention resides in the provisionof such a construction which is strong, sturdy and comfortable to sit on and at the same time very inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects of the invention include the provision of a molded contoured'seatbase frame of expanded cellular plastic material that is lightweight, strong, and rigid, forming the basis of the construction of the present invention. On this frame which has an opening in the center, there is provided a somewhat correspondingly shaped cushion of soft spongy material such as flexible cellular expanded plastic material. Under the =openvframe which 7 is flat on the bottom while being contoured to the human form on the top surface, there is an open frame comprising a piece of plywood or some similar inexpensive commodate the legs of the sitter, and between the (16-.

material, the cushion of flexible material overlying the contoured frame including the outer edges thereof as well as the edges at the opening in the center, said cushion being bound over these edges and secured, the central opening being closed by a separate cushion of flexible soft sprongy material such as expanded cellular plastic, this being held in place by a cover piece of any suitable material which covers the entire bottom of the chair seat. The construction also includes extra support means which comprises portions of the chair legs for the seat which extend under the seat frame and across the opening supporting the central separate member of soft material as well as the underlying cardboard member.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings,

in which: 7

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the seat construction, parts being broken away for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the rigid contoured seat base frame, part being broken away;

FIG. 4 is a view in front elevation of the seat-forming member of FIG. 3, looking in the direction of arrow 4 in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a view showing the cushion material completely extended preparatory to being secured down about the edges of the seat base frame.

The chair seat member of the present invention can of course be for any kind of chair to which it is adapted, and can also be used for love seats, sofas, etc. It comprises a molded rigid lightweight expanded cellular plastic base frame portion which is perhaps best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. This is molded in one piece. It is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 and at the rear edge thereof as at 12 which is thick, it slants downwardly and inwardly and it does the same in the side portions 14, 16 thereof which are correspondingly thick at the edges. The downwardly inclined surfaces are indicated in FIG. 4 at 18 and 20, and they terminate in an opening 22 having edges which are indicated by the reference numeral 24. The opening can be square or rectangular or any other convenient shape. The front portion of the frame at 26 is contoured with spaced depressions 28, 28 to acpressed portions 28 there is a raised center portion 30. This contoured base frame member 10 has an underlying strengthening piece of inexpensive material such as plywood, this being indicated by the reference numeral 32. This plywood member is also open corresponding tothe edges 24 as seen at 34 in FIG. 3, and is flat. 4 A soft flexible expanded cellular plastic cushion or padding material in sheet form is indicated generally by the reference numeral 36, in FIG, 5. This sheet is of somewhat the same shape as the outline of the base member 10 but it has a smaller opening 38 centrally thereof. This opening is provided with a series ofslits 40, 40 extendingjdiagonally with respect to the opening 38. As shown in FIG. 5, the seat frame member 10 is indicated in dotted lines underlying the sheet 36 and the plywood member 32 underlies themember 10. When in this position with the sheet 36 superposed, the side edge portions and the front and rear portions 42, 42 of the cushion are folded down over the corresponding portions of the seat frame and are secured thereto and to the plywood member 32 by any means desiredsuch as clips, cement, etc. Also the flaps 44 occasioned by the slits 40 are tucked down at the edges 24 of the opening 22 and also secured by any desired means so that the entire frame 10 is covered with soft comfortable cellular material, but the central opening at 24 is of course still open.

The contour frame 10 is now completely covered with the cushion, and over this there is now provided a flexible upholstery member generally indicated by the reference numeral 48. This member has a center portion 50 overlying the opening 22 and corresponding to the opening member 48 has skirts which extend downwardly as at 52, these being tucked under the edges 24 and secured to the bottom of the plywood member 32 by any means desired. The portions 50 may be separate, having integral flaps 52, and secured by sewing to the edges of an opening in themember 48. Similar skirts at 54 extend down over all of the outside edges of the cushioned frame and are secured in any way desired to the plywood member 32. Then a cushion 56, the size and shape of the frame opening, is inserted from the bottom closing the opening.

Underlying the entire seat there is then applied an inexpensive closure material such as cardboard as shown at 57, this member having the size and contour of the complete seat.

Although the upholstery material at 50 and the cardboard layer 57 will tend to support the padding material 56 in the position described, nevertheless it is preferred that the chair 60 shall have extension pieces 62 extending to underlie the opening 22 supporting the central portion of the upholstery material as perhaps best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Actually the legs 60 can take any form and either front or rear legs or both, or other similar means can be utilized for this purpose. Rear legs 64 may be similar or different with regard to the front legs.

Since all of the parts going to make the seat above described can be provided and assembled very inexpensively, it is believed that it will be clear that a very comfortable sturdy and inexpensive article of furniture is provided by the present invention.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

1. A chair seat comprising a rigid one-piece expanded cellular plastic frame having a coplanar lower surface and an upper surface contoured generally to accommodate the human form, the central portion of the frame being Patented- June 30, 1964 i open, a sheet of flexible expanded cellular plastic cushion material overlying the contoured surface of the frame, said flexible sheet having a central opening therein of lesser dimensions than the opening in the contoured frame, said sheet being greater in breadth and width than the contoured frame, a rigid strengthening member-underlying the contoured seat frame and having a similar outline including a central opening therein conforming to the opening in the contoured frame, the edge portions of the flexible cushion sheet being turned down about the side, front, and the rear edges of the seat frame, and also at its center down into the opening in the contoured seat frame and being secured to the frame, upholstery material covering the cushioning material throughout the'entire upper surface of said contoured frame, a separate soft flexible expanded plastic cushion member closing the opening in the contoured seat frame, and means holding the separate central cushioning member in position in the opening of the contoured seat frame.

2. The chair seat recited in claiml wherein the upholstery material, covers the entire seat, said upholstery material including side, rear and frontskirts extending 'down over the side, rear and front portions of the frame material including side, rear and front skirts extending down over the side, rear and front portions of the frame being secured to the strengthening member underneath the contoured seat frame, said upholstery material including a central skirt member extending down about the inner edges of the opening in the frame inv part enclosing the centralrseparate cushion member.

7 4. The chair seat recited in claim 1 including a rigid member extendingacross the lower surface of the frame and across the opening in theframe, under the separate cushion member. s

I References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,333,311 Greitzer Nov. 2, 1943 2,866,497 Struthers Dec. 30, 1958 2,942,652 Chapman June 28, 1960 2,954,820 Good Oct. 4, 1960 3,111,689 Mulhauser Nov. 26, 1963 

1. A CHAIR SEAT COMPRISING A RIGID ONE-PIECE EXPANDED CELLULAR PLASTIC FRAME HAVING A COPLANAR LOWER SURFACE AND AN UPPER SURFACE CONTOURED GENERALLY TO ACCOMMODATE THE HUMAN FORM, THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE FRAME BEING OPEN, A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE EXPANDED CELLULAR PLASTIC CUSHION MATERIAL OVERLYING THE CONTOURED SURFACE OF THE FRAME, SAID FLEXIBLE SHEET HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING THEREIN OF LESSER DIMENSIONS THAN THE OPENING IN THE CONTOURED FRAME, SAID SHEET BEING GREATER IN BREADTH AND WIDTH THAN THE CONTOURED FRAME, A RIGID-STRENGTHENING MEMBER UNDERLYING THE CONTOURED SEAT FRAME AND HAVING A SIMILAR OUTLINE INCLUDING A CENTRAL OPENING THEREIN CONFORMING TO THE OPENING IN THE CONTOURED FRAME, THE EDGE PORTIONS OF THE FLEXIBLE CUSHION SHEET BEING TURNED DOWN ABOUT THE 